The monitoring and controlling of devices located remotely from a central location has historically provided many challenges. The ability to detect a condition at a remotely located position or to exercise control over a system (such as turning a device off and on or otherwise causing a changed condition) from a central location has oftentimes been limited by the distance of the central control location from the device that is monitored or controlled. For example, monitoring and controlling devices within a manufacturing facility or a power plant may be accomplished by hardwiring the sensors and controllers with monitors and controllers in the central control room that may be only a few hundred feet away. However, hardwired monitoring and controlling of devices in areas wherein the remotely located sensors and controllers are positioned away from the central control area becomes impractical due to the inability to communicate electrical control signals between the central control room and the remotely located sensor or controlled device.
In addition to difficulties related to gathering data from a network to a central location, difficulties have also existed in attempting to push information from a central location throughout a network to various geographic locations. Distributing information throughout a network can take a great amount of time, energy and resources.
As a nonlimiting example, many retailers commonly engage in advertising reduced prices for various goods by printing and distributing signs with such goods throughout the retailer's network of stores. As a nonlimiting example, a hardware store that sells lumber and has various retail stores across the country must generally print new signage each time the retailer offers a sale or otherwise changes the price. For example, if the commodity price for lumber fluctuates meriting a price change, the retailer must change the signage to reflect the new price which may be higher or lower than a previous price. Oftentimes retailers print such signage at a single location and distribute such information throughout its network of retailers so as to have consistent pricing throughout its network of stores. Thus, with each price change or other special promotion or sale, the retailer must spend resources to update its pricing and sale information so as to more likely attract purchasing customers. This is but one nonlimiting example of the problems associated with pushing data throughout a network, such as a network of retail stores.
In similar fashion, whenever a competitor offers a lower price for a particular good or commodity, a retailer may also take the initiative to adjust the price, perhaps on a more localized level, as opposed to a regional level so as to respond to an individual competitor or regional market. Nevertheless, even in this case, the retailer must still generate new signage and promotional information so that potential customers can be aware of the competitive price change. For nationwide retailers, this can create an essentially never-ending condition of creating signage for special offers and promotions that must be thereafter distributed or pushed throughout its network of stores. Thus, overhead costs develop within such retailers whose purpose is to create and distribute the sale and promotional information throughout the network of stores, which effectively reduces the profit margin for the retailer.
Moreover, it becomes difficult for such retailers to be responsive on a short term basis to fluctuations in the market for commodity types of goods, as well as other retail goods, due to the time involved in creating and distributing new signage. Creating signage involves significant time, so larger retailers may not be suited to make real time market adjustments.
As a result, a heretofore unaddressed need exists to overcome the deficiencies and shortcomings described above.